Top Gear Returns

New episodes of Top Gear returns to Nine from next week with the two-part African Special to screen on Thursday nights at the unusual time of 7pm.

The irrepressible Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are back for an epic road trip around the heart of Africa. Starting in a small village in Uganda, the boys set off on a journey that pits them against nature at its most brutal.

“So, you’ve seen Sir David Attenborough’s take on Africa – now it’s time to see ours,” said Clarkson.

At a mighty 4000 miles (6400 kilometres) the Nile is the longest river in the world, running from the heart of Africa to the Mediterranean Sea. Finding its source has occupied the minds and claimed the lives of explorers for thousands of years.

Now the boys plan to join that illustrious band of brothers and write themselves into the history books.

Top Gear UK Premieres: Africa Special Part 1, Thursday, April 4, at 7.00pmClarkson, Hammond and May go to Africa with a simple mission: to find the definitive source of the river Nile. Over the years many explorers claim to have done just that, but the Top Gear trio believe they can do better by travelling further and faster than any exploration team in history, using only grit, ingenuity and three ageing estate cars.

Top Gear UK: Africa Special Part 2, Thursday, April 11, at 7.00pmIn the second part of the Top Gear special, Clarkson, Hammond and May continue their African odyssey. After surviving insane traffic, lethal mud slides and some distinctly dubious map reading, they reach the climax of their quest to find the definitive source of the Nile in their ailing estate cars.